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Background and Objectives: The associations of breastfeeding and early childhood caries (ECC) risk have been evaluated in several epidemiological studies with conflicting results. We performed an update meta-analysis to estimate the association of feeding patterns, breastfeeding durations and ECC risk.Methods and Study Design: Studies were identified through searching Pubmed, Web of Science, and Embase from January 1990 to December 2015.Results: Thirty-five studies involving 73,401 participants aged 0-71 months were included. The overall analysis showed children ever breastfed had a reduced risk of ECC compared with those never breastfed (OR=0.77, 95% CI: 0.61-0.97, p=0.026). Subgroup analysis revealed ever breastfeeding significantly reduced ECC risk for the studies with 3-6 years old children (OR=0.70, 95% CI: 0.54-0.90, p=0.005), with sample size >500 subjects (OR=0.63, 95% CI: 0.46-0.87, p=0.004), with Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) score >=6 (OR=0.66, 95% CI: 0.46-0.94, p=0.023), published after 2010 (OR=0.50, 95% CI: 0.30-0.82, p=0.006), with adjusted OR (OR=0.40, 95% CI: 0.18-0.88, p=0.023). Exclusive breastfeeding did not significantly decrease ECC risk compared with bottle feeding (OR=0.68, 95% CI: 0.35-1.31, p=0.248). The children breastfed >=12 months significantly increased ECC risk compared with those breastfed <12 months (OR=1.86, 95% CI: 1.37-2.52, p<0.001). Whereas, children breastfed >=6 months did not significantly increase ECC risk compared with those breastfed <6 months (OR=1.13, 95% CI: 0.83-1.53, p=0.428).Conclusions: Our analysis suggests ever breastfeeding may protect children from ECC, and breastfeeding duration >=12 months is associated with higher ECC risk. Additional large cohort studies are required to illustrate the relationship in further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to assess the possible association between gout and erectile dysfunction (ED). Methods: Studies were identified by extensively searching EMBASE, Pubmed, CENTRAL and ISI Web of Science. Four electronic databases were searched from their inception date to the latest issue (March 2016), without language restriction. Each reviewer screened articles independently and was blinded to the findings of the other reviewer. Data was extracted in adherence to the predetermined data collection form and meta-analysis was conducted via RevMan 5.3. Results: Five studies involving 56465 patients (mean age: 49.11 years) with gout and 155636 non-gout subjects (mean age: 48.76 years) were selected. The combination of unadjusted odds ratio (OR) showed that patients with gout were 1.44 times more likely to be diagnosed with ED when compared with control (95% confidence interval (95%CI) 1.20, 1.72). After adjustment for age and comorbidities, the heightened risk to develop ED was still present (1.18, 95%CI 1.02, 1.38). Subgroup-analysis by age showed statistically significant association of gout and ED in all age groups. However, evidence supporting a causal effect of gout on ED was insufficient. Conclusion: The findings of this review indicated a positive association of gout and ED, but this work is hampered by the heterogeneity among included studies, to some extent. Future studies with larger community-based homogeneous population and randomized controlled trials aimed to evaluate the effect of gout treatment on ED associated outcomes are needed at this point. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cigarette smoking has been shown to be a risk factor for adult glioma by some but not all studies. We conducted a meta-analysis to systematically assess the potential association. Methods: PubMed and EMBASE were searched from the date of their inception to October 1, 2015, to identify relevant articles. Reference lists from these articles were reviewed to identify additional studies. Both cohort and case-control studies were included. Fixed-effects models were used to calculate the overall relative risk (RR) with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results: The final analysis included 24 studies (seven cohort and 17 case-control studies), involving more than 2.3 million individuals. The combined RR was 1.04 (95% CI: 1.00, 1.09; P=0.073) for ever-smokers, 0.97 (95% CI: 0.88, 1.07; P=0.574) for current-smokers, and 1.07 (95% CI: 0.98, 1.16; P=0.130) for past smokers, with little evidence of heterogeneity. Omission of any single study from the analysis had little effect on the result. No evidence of publication bias was found. A small but statistically significant increase was found in past smokers in females (RR: 1.13, 95% CI: 1.00, 1.28; P=0.046) but not in males. Conclusion: In general, there was no association between cigarette smoking and adult glioma. The small but statistically significant association in females requires further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives: Vitamin D receptor (VDR) genetic polymorphisms are considered to be associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), but this is inconclusive. The aim of this study is to quantify the association between polymorphisms of BsmI and FokI in the VDR gene and T2DM risk through literature review.Methods and Study Design: Original articles published from 1999 to June 2014 were discovered through PubMed, ISI Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese Wanfang Database, and the Chinese Biomedical Literature Database. The pooled odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated with software STATA version 12.0.Results: Twenty-three articles containing 30 case-control studies were included. The association between the BsmI polymorphism and T2DM was weak in two genetic models (Bb vs bb and BB+Bb vs bb). The subgroup analysis showed that this association was only found in the studies with a small sample size (<200). A strong association between FokI polymorphism and T2DM indicated that this gene polymorphism was possibly a risk factor for T2DM (ff vs FF: OR=1.57, 95% CI: 1.28-1.93, p<0.001; Ff vs FF: OR=1.54, 95% CI: 1.31-1.81, p<0.001; ff+Ff vs FF: OR=1.57, 95% CI: 1.35-1.83, p<0.001), especially in Chinese populations.Conclusion: More reliable conclusions about associations between VDR genetic polymorphisms and T2DM will depend on studies with larger sample size and by ethnicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dioxin-related compounds are associated with teratogenic and mutagenic risks in laboratory animals, and result in adverse pregnancy outcomes. However, there were inconsistent results in epidemiology studies. In view of this difference, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine this association and to assess the heterogeneity among studies. Comprehensive literature searches were performed to search for relevant articles published in English up to 15 May 2012. In total, we identified 15 studies which included 9 cohort and 6 case control studies. The Cochrane Q test and index of heterogeneity (I2) were used to evaluate heterogeneity. In either cohort studies (I2=0.89, p<0.0001) or case control studies (I2 =0.69, p=0.02), significant heterogeneity of risk estimates were observed. Subgroup analyses found no significant increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcome with air dioxin-related compounds exposure (RR=0.99, 95% CI:0.85–1.16), no significant increased risk of spontaneous abortion (SAB) with exposure to food dioxin-related compounds (RR=1.05, 95% CI:0.80–1.37), higher significant risks of low birth weight (LBW) with exposure to food dioxin-related compounds (RR=1.55, 95% CI:1.24–1.94), and higher significant risks of birth defects with maternal solid contaminants dioxin exposure (OR=1.24, 95% CI:1.19–1.29). In conclusion, more evidences are needed to confirm the association between environmental dioxin-related compounds exposure and pregnancy outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We compared the efficacy and safety of drug-eluting stents with that of bare-metal stents in patients who experienced acute ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and underwent primary percutaneous coronary intervention. To do this, we performed a meta-analysis of 13 randomized controlled trials in which drug-eluting stents were compared with bare-metal stents in STEMI patients. The trials involved 6,769 patients (4,246 received drug-eluting stents and 2, 523 received bare-metal stents) and follow-up periods of 6 to 48 months. In comparison with bare-metal stents, drug-eluting stents significantly reduced the incidence of major adverse cardiac events, with a risk ratio (RR) of 0.59 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.47-0.73; P <0.00001). Drug-eluting stents were not associated with a significant reduction in overall death (RR=0.94; 95% CI, 0.74-1.20; P=0.64), but were associated with significant reductions in recurrent myocardial infarction (RR=0.76; 95% CI, 0.58-0.98; P=0.03), target-vessel revascularization (RR=0.47; 95% CI, 0.39-0.56; P <0.00001), and in-stent restenosis (RR=0.32; 95% CI, 0.25-0.39; P <0.00001). Moreover, no significant difference was found in the comparative risk of stent thrombosis (RR=0.85; 95% CI, 0.63-1.14; P=0.27). On the basis of risk ratio, we conclude that using drug-eluting stents in STEMI patients who undergo primary percutaneous coronary intervention is safe with regard to stent thrombosis within 48 months, and that drug-eluting stents improve clinical outcomes by reducing the risks of major adverse cardiac events, recurrent myocardial infarction, reintervention, and in-stent restenosis, compared with bare-metal stents. However, in order to investigate possible very late stent thrombosis, follow-up of these trials beyond 48 months is warranted [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: TP73 antisense RNA 1 (TP73-AS1), a newly discovered long non-coding RNA (lncRNA), has been reported to be upregulated in various kinds of tumors, and shows a variable influence on living quality and prognosis of patients. Thus, we conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate the overall prognostic value of the lncRNA TP73-AS1 in cancer patients. Results: A systematic literature retrieval was carried out using the PubMed, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, andWeb of Science databases. We calculated the pooled hazard ratio (HR) and odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) to evaluate the association of TP73-AS1 expression with prognostic and clinicopathological parameters. A total of 15 studies including 1057 cancer patients were finally selected for the meta-analysis. The results demonstrated that high TP73-AS1 expression was significantly associated with shorter overall survival (OS) (HR = 1.97, 95% CI: 1.68-2.31, P < 0.001). According to a fixed-effects or random-effects model, elevated TP73-AS1 expression markedly predicted advanced clinical stage (OR = 3.30, 95% CI: 2.35-4.64, P < 0.001), larger tumor size (OR = 2.37, 95% CI: 1.75-3.22, P < 0.001), earlier lymph node metastasis (OR = 3.28, 95% CI: 1.59-6.76, P = 0.001), and distant metastasis (OR = 4.94, 95% CI: 2.61-9.37, P b 0.001). Conclusions: High lncRNA TP73-AS1 expression appears to be predictive of a worse OS and clinicopathologic features for patients with various types of malignant tumors. These results provide a basis for utilizing TP73- AS1 expression as an unfavorable indicator to predict survival outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review evaluates the effectiveness and safety of injection of shenqi fuzheng with chemotherapy in the treatment of breast cancer in China. The study included 20 randomized clinical trials (RCTs) involving 1,609 patients. It was shown that shenqi fuzheng could improved the treatment efficiency, Kamofsky Performance Status (KPS), weight and autoimmune; reduced fatigue, gastrointestinal reaction and the toxicity of bone marrow; protected liver, kidney and heart from damage by chemotherapy. However, the quality of all the studies was relatively low and there was great heterogeneity between various studies. Further well-designed research is needed to estimate the beneficial effects of shenqi fuzheng. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To investigate the relation between serum leptin levels and cerebral infarction (CI) by meta-analysis. Materials and Methods: Scientific literature databases were searched for studies published in Chinese and English. After retrieving relevant articles through database searches and screening using predefined selection criteria, high-quality studies related to our research topic were selected for inclusion in this meta-analysis. All statistical analyses were conducted using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis 2.0 (CMA 2.0, Biostat Inc., Englewood, New Jersey, USA). Results: The study results revealed that serum leptin levels were significantly higher in CI patients as compared to normal controls. The outcomes of subgroup analysis by ethnicity suggested that the serum leptin levels in CI patients were significantly higher than normal controls in both Asian and Caucasian populations. Further, subgroup analysis based on the detection method indicated that the serum leptin levels in CI patients were significantly higher compared with normal controls when measured by radioimmunoassay (RIA) but enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)-based measurements did not show such statistically significant differences. Conclusion: Our meta-analysis results suggest that serum leptin levels in CI patients may be closely correlated with CI risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) is thought to be involved in the development of nonsyndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate (NSCL/P). However, conflicting results have been obtained when evaluating the association between maternal MTHFR C677T and A1298C polymorphisms and the risk of NSCL/P. In light of this gap, a meta-analysis of all eligible case-control studies was conducted in the present study. Materials and Methods: A total of 15 case-control studies were ultimately identified after a comprehensive literature search and Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) examination. Cochrane’s Q test and index of heterogeneity (I2) indicated no obvious heterogeneity among studies. Results: Fixed or random-effects models were used to calculate the pooled odds ratios (ORs). The results showed that the TT genotype in mothers increased the likelihood of having NSCL/P offspring 1.25 times (95% CI: 1.047-1.494) more than the CC homozygotes. Meanwhile, maternal TT genotype increased the risk of producing NSCL/P offspring in recessive model (OR=1.325, 95% CI: 1.124-1.562). However, the CT heterozygote and the CT+TT dominant models had no association with NSCL/P offspring compared with the CC wild-type homozygote model. Subgroup analyses based on ethnicity indicated that maternal TT genotype increased the likelihood of having NSCL/P offspring in Whites (OR=1.308, 95% CI: 1.059-1.617) and Asians (OR=1.726, 95% CI: 1.090-2.733) in recessive model. Also, subgroup analyses based on source of control showed that mothers with the 677TT genotype had a significantly increased susceptibility of having NSCL/P children in hospital based population (HB) when compared with CC homozygotes (OR=1.248, 95% CI: 1.024-1.520) and under the recessive model (OR=1.324, 95% CI: 1.104-1.588). Furthermore, maternal A1298C polymorphism had no significant association with producing NSCL/P offspring (dominant model OR=0.952, 95% CI: 0.816-1.111, recessive model OR=0.766, 95% CI: 0.567-1.036). Conclusion: MTHFR C677T polymorphism is associated with the risk of generating NSCL/P offspring, and being a 677TT homozygote is a risk factor. MTHFR A1298C polymorphism was not associated with generating NSCL/P offspring. However, further work should be performed to confirm these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]